Accounting and Fraud 4 min read
January 26, 2016
After lengthy deliberation, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped fraud charges against Japanese camera maker Olympus and its UK subsidiary Gyrus Group. The charges related to an accounting scandal that came to light four years ago. Since then, the SFO has been looking closely at what happened with a view to securing convictions. Now, however, the SFO has given up on the prosecution. In explaining why, the SFO said that the case involved employees of the two firms making misleading comments to auditors. The SFO said that the Court of Appeal had ruled in a 2014 case that English law does not criminalise the misleading of auditors by the company that is the subject of the audit; effectively removing the grounds for a prosecution against Olympus and Gyrus. The SFO also stated that it was also struggling to bring prosecutions against individuals because Japan does not extradite its nationals. Read more
Testing Times 4 min read
December 3, 2015
As the Volkswagen emissions testing scandal deepens, the German car maker faces investigations in a number of countries. These investigations will look at the way millions of cars function, the role of hundreds (and possibly thousands) of employees and Volkswagen’s activities from 2009 to the present. Read more
Explanations Necessary 4 min read
December 3, 2015
In an attempt to crack down on corruption, the government is seeking to make people prove that their assets have not been gained through illegal activity. This is a major reversal of the normal procedures that are in place in criminal investigations. In the vast majority of criminal cases, the burden of proof is on the accuser. If allegations are made against a person and charges are brought then it is the prosecution’s task to prove that the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt. This has been a cornerstone of justice for centuries. Read more
Going To Ground 3 min read
December 3, 2015
With 14 people having been arrested over a suspected £78m landfill tax fraud, the issue of such taxation is set to stay in the spotlight. Those arrested will be wondering how best to challenge the views of their accusers. Read more
Dropped 4 min read
December 3, 2015
The government has quietly dropped plans for a new corporate crime offence. But this cannot be seen as a reason to be complacent about business crime. Read more
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 8 min read
October 23, 2015
There was a period of time after the Human Rights Act 1998 (“HRA”) came into force when there was a rash of challenges to the admissibility of covertly obtained evidence. There has since been more of a settled period as the law has bedded in. We however believe there is still plenty of room for pro-active defenders to challenge covert surveillance material in appropriate cases. As surveillance gradually becomes an almost everyday reality for us, so we needed to be ever more vigilant and demand that the Courts protect us from mis-use of these powers. Read more
Raid Aid 4 min read
October 20, 2015
The second part of our look at how to manage a raid on your premises. This time, we show how the law can be used to challenge all aspects of a raid. Read more
The Serious Fraud Office And You 3 min read
October 20, 2015
What you need to know about the SFO – Aziz Rahman explains how you can challenge its fraud allegations. Read more
One third of small and medium-sized businesses do not know about the Bribery Act. 3 min read
October 20, 2015
Here's what you need to know to avoid falling foul of it. Read more
Stay Clean 3 min read
October 20, 2015
London has been called the capital of money laundering. So how can you avoid being implicated in it? Read more
Serious Fraud, Regulatory and Complex Crime Lawyers
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